11/1/05: I'm not ready as I'll ever be

October of 2005 was officially the fastest month in human history. I know what you're thinking: June of 2397 B.C. was pretty fast, too. But let's be honest: June of 2397 B.C. only had 30 days and there was a stretch there in the middle when the days started to drag a little bit.  So October 2005 wins. Get down on it, if you really want it.

I am going to stop talking about my computer situation for now. Thanks to everyone for weighing in, especially isired for the extensive mac info. Right now I am definitely looking at a mac, and it's between three models.  The wife thinks I'm nuts but I think I'm ready to make my move.  None of the PC's I've seen are blowing me away.

Last question -- will the mac I buy automatically connect to my Linksys wireless router or do I need to a) buy a new router that works on both PC's and macs b) buy a mac router and set that up in addition to my Linksys router or c) download some crap to make the Linksys work?

Thanks again.

Monday Night Football puts me to sleep, and I kind of like that.

One thing that the FJM site has done to me -- it's kind of ruined sports watching. I mean, I've always been annoyed when really stupid announcers say really stupid things, but that site has just perked up my radar in a way that I'm not sure if I like. Like every time I hear a sports analyst say something, I'm all, "Wrong. Wrong. That's wrong also." The truth is that even the better announcers out there believe in a lot of crazy shit, and they say it with straight faces. This makes them look mighty stupid.

But the guys at FJM may be worse -- they watch sports with such a methodical, clinical eye that they kind of suck the life right out of the whole deal. As a fan, I want to believe in magic.

I want to say that A-Rod sucked this postseason because he choked, and that Derek Jeter always comes through because he's got some kind of superior psychological makeup.

I want to feel confident in assuming that John Starks's 3-point attempt in Game 6 of the '94 Finals would have gone right in if Hakeem hadn't gotten a finger on it...because Starks had the hot hand.  Sure, statistics tell us that he had only about a 30% chance of making that shot, given his position on the court and the defensive pressure being applied. But John Starks had the magic. For better or worse.

I want to believe that sports is more than a bunch of probabilities colliding in generally predictable ways. Even if I know that's really what they are. In my head, I want to believe in the human factor. It makes for much better stories.

I guess I don't want to know the real reason things happen on playing fields. I want to believe the best reason.

OK, here's one of those things that makes me resistant to move to Apple. Bad enough they use the slogan "Think Different" when all their products look exactly the same. Bad enough that they sell digital music and slap all sorts of restrictions on it so you can only do with it what they want you to do with it. Now they are trying to sell us music videos. For $1.99 a pop. WTF? I know I'm not obligated to buy one, but shouldn't music videos be free? Isn't the general idea that they get us to watch the video in the hopes that we'll buy the song? Not anymore. Gas face, Apple.

That goes for Fiona Apple as well.

I guess with the NBA season about to start, I should make some quickie predictions.

Division Winners:

East: NJ, Indiana, Miami
West: Denver, Sacramento, San Antonio

Conference Finalists:

Miami, Indiana, San Antonio, Dallas

NBA Finals:

San Antonio over Indiana

I would have picked Miami to win the East if they hadn't shaken stuff up so much. I think getting 'Toine was a big mistake.

MVP: LeBron

That should do it.

I am attending a wedding on November 12th. Tell me how many weddings (including that one but not including my own) I've attended in my life. Ten points to closest guess, 19 points if it's an exact match. One guess to a customer.